Springer style seat

[mittico68]

Ratman, Sir, you're absolutely right: the final choice it's up to me and to me only.
But I do like to ear as much opinions as I can, especially if they come from a great Forum of Drifter's owners & nice people...
Greenbarn, you gave me a good advice... I think I'm gonna take the chance.
Thanx a lot!

[CDNRatMan]

   At the present time I am only missing the bracket. Of course the link OR_Seedman post the person does not ship to Canada. I tried a different supplier and they have till the 30th for it to arrive. Failing this I might need to impose on a kindly person on the US side of the line to be the receiver of the product and then forward it to me here.........but I have a few days for it to show up..... 

[greenbarn]

Mittico:  if you're still thinking of black, but not quite sure - you can spray it with plasti-dip to try it.   It will come off if you don't like it.

Now, Ratman, you can see exactly what this mod would look like on your bike...   If you can't get anyone to ship the parts directly to you, I know a guy that will prob'ly help you out...

[CDNRatMan]

  Well I am sure that you will decide on which way you like it the best and not really worry about what anyone else likes. It is all in your own mind what you like.
I have a couple of people I ask my questions to, and I do listen and I mull over the ideas presented, but then again it is my bike, I am riding it, we all have a vision of what we want our bikes to look like, and we will tend to go with those ideas.
mittico68 you could do a red, black, chrome, heck even a tri colour rail in Red, White, and Green like the flag, it is up to you....

[OR Seedman]

here is a link to the cap part #

http://www.partzilla.com/parts/detail/kawasaki/KP-11065-1195.html

let me know if you need any other info on the brackets to help you get them made over there.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year all!

[mittico68]

Thanx guys, for your kind suggestions.
I must agree with Kw-retrorider.
And maybe the chromed rail would break away with the seat and all the rest of the blacked parts.
Regarding the holes on the frame, I was thinkin' about puttin' back the old bolts but I'd like to get them black. So, I think I'm gonna buy those rubber caps that Seedman was talkin' about. BTW, do you have the part number?
And finally, just to answer to Seedman: the brackets are still on the way, because I've had a hard time tryin' to take their exact measurements for the local bender...
I will update soon.
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!

[pcarrell]

I like the rail chrome, but that's just me.

[kw-retrorider]

Actually my first thought is the rail should be black, but there is enough chrome right next to in the exhaust, that I think it looks better bright....just another opinion.

[OR Seedman]

I agree, as most of the bike is not chrome....but it looks good either way...

regarding the old seat bracket holes...I just put in the old bolts when I don't have my saddlebags on and put factory rubber caps (I ordered 4 from Partzilla) on to cover them...cleans up the look...

by the way ...have you got your saddlebag brackets made yet?

[CDNRatMan]

  I would powder coat it gloss black for the looks and colour of said bike, I would also get some plugs for the old bracket mounting holes.

[mittico68]

As someone asked before, here I go updating ya with the following pics of the spring seat together with the handrail.
Now, I wonder what to do: leave that rail chromed or just paint it black?
Any suggestion would be appreciated.

[pcarrell]

That looks sweet!

[OR Seedman]

now with seat rail...also posted in another topic

[OR Seedman]

added leather fringe to the seat  and went back to the 3" springs....every time I accelerated hard with the 2" springs on the seat, I felt like I was going to slide right off onto the rear fender....almost happened the first time...so I went back to the 3" springs and moved the seat back a little with a spacer mount and now it's just about perfect for me....

[OR Seedman]

I discovered that without the factory seat mounts, my saddlebag mounts were too close to the upper swingarm bumper bolts.  so...spacers it is...around 1/2 inch thick worked just fine....

[OR Seedman]

it actually was fairly easy once I got the seat position set up...at first I was attempting to put it too far back and I couldn't get the front mount attached...had to take the whole thing back off and reset the front mount to a better position....this was BEFORE I cut out the plastic tray to make mounting to the cross member easier....anyway, here is a picture of the front mount on the seat in the correct position....

and here are some links to the parts

seat:  http://www.ebay.com/itm/172227828914?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

mounting unit:  http://www.ebay.com/itm/291907184885?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

shorter barrel springs (which I like better in the black color): http://www.ebay.com/itm/171948130104?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

you can get the t-bar mount without springs for less than the $15.99 that I paid...

the hardware I cobbled together from stuff in my shop...the seat posts are fine-thread, but the rest of the stuff I used is coarse thread....all SAE  not metric.  As far as the channel steel I used to mount to the cross-member...I had some laying around and just cut it to length (12 inches).  and flat steel would work, but i would not use anything less than 1/8" thick

[CDNRatMan]

   ok seems this might be a winter project if the swap is easily made.

hard part is not having a fancy tool shop in my living room and so will have to see the best way to fabricate some sort of cover for the area I want covered.
I may have to draw on your generous nature to lead me in the right direction as to ordering the parts, if they first off ship to Canada, and secondly if the shipping fees do not exceed the cost of the parts.

[OR Seedman]

great minds.....ha ha...it was an easy thing to just dye mine since it was already dark brown..

Ratman...I will post a pic of the front mount when I get home and can access my photo album....it's really just a simple t-mount that sells on ebay with springs for around $15...attaches to the front slot mount on the seat, although some seats have 2 threaded posts to mount to instead....

[mittico68]

Ehy Seedman, looks like we've had the same ideas on doin' that job!
I've had to open a small spot on that plastic tray, too...
and I used a similar grabbing tool, just to let each bolt pass through the holes of the oem steel base. And yes, what a real pain has been tryin' just to insert my fingers in that spots!
BTW: actually my spring seat is getting a black leather cover, by a local shop and I'm workin' hard on the grab rail, tryin' to adapt it to the seat...
Pics will follow asap.

[CDNRatMan]

     I really like that and so how do you attach the seat in the front?

yup more questions to follow.....lol.......

[OR Seedman]

here are some more pics of the finished position...

[OR Seedman]

ok...here we go...

2" barrel springs came today, so now I am putting the freshly dyed seat back on.....

First I mounted the springs to the seat....I have a handy little retractable grabbing tool from a computer repair kit....makes putting the bolt down through the barrel spring much easier then just trying to drop it in the holes through the washers.

Once those are done, I mount the seat to the steel channel for mounting to the frame (now painted black, too)

I then took a box end wrench for my frame mounting bolts and put some metal duct tape over one side of the opening to hold the bolt in place while I fed it through the small notch I cut in the plastic tray that holds all the electronics.  Otherwise, you have to pull them all out to go in from the front side...a real pain...

snug up the bolts to the frame, bolt down the front to the gas tank mount and you are ready to ride....the seat position is now almost identical to factory height...

[CDNRatMan]

 Thank you

[OR Seedman]

definitely....I will take multiple pictures and post as soon as I get the springs and start putting it back together....

[CDNRatMan]

   ok can we ask you to show a few close ups of the front mount and the rest of the mounts because you have done a good job and we just want to see more.
Thanks.....